The Clash of Steel, the Howl of the Wind
by erindolphin91
Summary: Two years after the defeat of the Atatski, Naruto and Sasuke are promoted to ANBU. But with his friends detemined to uncover his identity and a new threat on the horizon, can Naruto remain hidden long enough to protect his those he cares about?
1. Chapter 1

Uzumaki Naruto lay on the roof of his apartment, enjoying the sunshine. In a rare moment of peace, he actually had nothing he urgently needed to do, which, as a Jounin, was extremely rare. Naruto grinned as he remembered how he and Sasuke had both finally been admitted to the rank of Jounin 6 months ago, almost a year and half since the destruction of the Akatsuki. Naruto absentmindedly twirled a kunai around his left index finger, concentrating on the report he was about to give Tsunade about the current state of Sunagakure, Gaara's Hidden Village. Tsunade had given Naruto the job of 'ambassador' to Sunagakure at the same time as he was made Jounin, and his duties had meant that he hadn't returned to Konoha in almost a two weeks.

**It was fun, though.**

Naruto chuckled as a familiar voice butted in. When the Akatsuki had tried to extract the Kyuubi, Naruto and the giant fox had overloaded their jutsu and the two of them reached a truce, of sorts. Naruto allowed the Kyuubi, or Kitsune as he preferred to be called, permanent access to his senses, meaning that the fox was continuously aware of the situation of his carrier. In return, Naruto had a whole host of new jutsus from Kitsune's memory and, if possible, even more chakra at his disposal than previously.

_Well, if you call getting into two pointless fights and nearly being impaled on a kunai fun, then I guess you could call it that._

**It was more interesting than the previous two visits we made. **

_Guess you got me there.__Still, I ought to get my report over to Tsunade before she sends someone over here after me._

**Get going then, blondie.**

_Stop calling me that!!_

Naruto jumped down from the rooftop, landing on his apartment windowsill. He stopped to pick up the written report and a sealing scroll he was currently writing. With his luck, there would be a queue of people waiting to see Tsunade when he got there, and the scroll would give him something to do. He locked his window and apartment door and headed out onto the street. He began to make his way towards the Hokage's Tower when he noticed a familiar shock of pink hair in the crowd ahead of him. "Sakura!" he called, breaking into a run.

Sakura heard a familiar yell. She turned around to see a blonde haired ninja skid to a halt next to her, a huge grin over his face.

"Naruto!" She exclaimed. "When did you get back?"

"About an hour ago. I had to drop my stuff off at my apartment and I cleaned the place up – it was kinda dusty!"

Sakura took a proper look at her friend. Naruto's position as ambassador to Sunagakure and subsequent sun exposure had bleached his already blonde hair almost white with honey coloured lowlights. The sun had also given him a permanent light gold tan, contrasting sharply with his deep blue eyes. Naruto also seemed to have grown whilst he was away, making him six feet tall.

There was another difference as well, and it took Sakura a minute or so before she worked out what it was.

"You changed your outfit!" she cried.

Naruto gave a slightly sheepish grin. "What do you think?" he asked.

"It's…different. But it suits you." She added hastily.

**She's right on that one. **Kitsune interjected.

Naruto looked down at his outfit. It certainly was different. Baggy grey trousers tucked into black ninja sandals, a black vest top with a orange and black short sleeved jacket over the top was far cry to the orange jumpsuit he'd left in. Black arm protectors covered his arms from the bottom of his jacket sleeves to his wrists, and Sakura knew they were probably to hide several seals on his skin.

"Where'd you get it from?" Sakura asked.

Naruto's grin grew wider. "Gaara gave it to me."

"Gaara WHAT!?"

"Well, it started with an assassination attempt...

_Flashback – two weeks ago, Sunagakure._

_Night had fallen in the desert and Naruto had just finished his final meeting as official ambassador of Konoha. He wandered the streets of the city, making his way slowly towards his room near the Kazakage tower. As he reached the tower, some deep sixth sense made him glance up, and his eyes caught the slightest flicker of movement on the roof of the tower. Naruto's eyes narrowed, but he carried on walking as if he hadn't noticed anything. Quickly he performed a Body Flicker Jutsu and a Shadow Clone Jutsu, replacing himself with a dopplemeiner. Whilst his clone carried on towards his apartment, Naruto jumped silently onto the top of the Kazagake's Tower. As he landed he found both rooftop guards dead, lying in puddles of their own blood._

"_Shit!" he muttered._

_Abandoning all caution he performed a Forbidden Transmuting Justu and sunk straight through the two floors below him, landing directly on a masked ninja who was about to run a katana through Gaara's back._ _The man collapsed beneath Naruto's unexpected weight and Naruto wasted no time in delivering a powerful kick to his jaw, knocking him out cold. Inside his head Kitsune roared __**Behind you!**_

_Pushing himself off his right leg Naruto launched himself across the room, taking the kunai that was meant for Gaara in his left arm. Naruto swore and pulled the throwing knife out, but forced himself to ignore the pain, focusing on the ninja who was still active and very much a threat. _

_Behind his mask, Naruto saw the eyes on the ninja narrow slightly. "You are not even from Sunagakure." He said. _

"_And?" Naruto asked, irritated by the wound in his arm, which was starting to burn as Kitsune's chakra healed it._

"_You are expendable." The ninja stated softly. "You cannot perform any ninjutsu with only one hand, making you exceedingly… vulnerable."_

_Naruto felt the edges of his mind begin to overlap with the Kyuubi's. A slow smile spread across his face. "Why don't you try me?"_

_In response the ninja performed five hand signs and then cried "Ninjustu Art: Flaming Pentangle!"_

_Five lines of fire surrounded Naruto and Gaara, imprisoning them in a burning pentacle. The flames caused Naruto to start sweating and as they rose higher and the pentacle began to shrink, bringing the burning flames closer. _

_Well that ought to have alerted any ninja who's paying the slightest bit of attention. I only hope they get here in time to do something useful._

_Thinking fast, Naruto took out a scroll, bit his thumb and smeared some of his blood on the ink. Just then the door flew open to reveal Kankuro. His eyes widened as he saw his brother and comrade imprisoned by the flames. _

"_Gaara!" he called, but Naruto could barely hear him over the noise of the flames. _

_Naruto finished writing and flexed his left hand. He placed the scroll on Gaara's unconscious form and performed a teleportation jutsu as the pentacle flared even higher and collapsed in on itself. The scroll was one of Naruto's designs and it activated as the ninjutsu was performed, taking Gaara with Naruto. _

_Naruto reappeared on a rooftop some distance from the tower, cushioning the Kazagake's fall with his own body. Groaning, he rolled Gaara off him and sat up. Naruto checked his friend's pulse and was relieved to find that it was steady and strong. He sat cross legged on the rooftop and watched with interest as Kankuro appeared on the roof of the tower looking slightly worse for wear. Both of his puppets were out and from what Naruto could tell he appeared to have caught both of the assassins._

_When his senses judged it safe, Naruto pulled Gaara into a sitting position and draped one arm over his shoulder, noticing as he did so that his tracksuit was ripped and covered in blood from his now healed left arm. He jumped across the rooftops and was immediately spotted by xxxx._

_The ANBU leader raced over to Naruto, a mixture of relief and apprehension on his face. _

"_He's fine." Naruto said, answering the unspoken question. "Trust me, I checked. A couple of minor scrapes, and one fairly sizable lump on the back of his head, but he'll be fine." _

_The tension eased out of his face and he helped Naruto carry his Kazagake over to a team of medical ninja. Naruto laid Gaara onto the ground and the med-ninja surrounded him, their faces glowing green from the medical chakra they emitted._

_Naruto pulled off his ruined tracksuit top, and in a moment of recklessness, burnt it using a small fire jutsu. His ears detected an acceleration in Gaara's heartbeat and a moment later the Kazagake opened his eyes. _

_Gaara sat up, despite the medic ninja who tried to hold him down. His noticed Naruto first, who was jumping up and down, rubbing his arms in the cold. His sharp eyes took in the ash on the blond haired ninja's face and hands and the blood smear on his left arm, before his gaze drifted over to the Kazagake tower, which had a large smoking hole in the roof. A slight smile twitched the corner of Gaara's mouth. He raised an eyebrow at his anbu captain, whose eyes flickered the blond haired ninja from Konoha. _

"_It would appear that I am in your debt, Naruto."_

_Naruto just shrugged. "Anytime, Gaara. You know that."_

_Flashback End._

...continued when a group of genin mistook my room for their sensei's...

_Flashback_

"_You have got to be kidding me." Naruto mumbled. His shadow clone was waiting in his room, and when he saw his creator he vanished in a puff of smoke, and all his memories arrived in Naruto's head._

_Naruto shook his head in disbelief. He turned his gaze onto the two young ninja who were stuck in a trap, unable to move. "Do you mind explaining what happened?" _

_The two Genins exchanged glances and the girl spoke. "We thought it was our sensei's room."_

_Naruto flicked his eyes towards his wardrobe. They had been nothing if not thorough. His entire set of clothes had been utterly decimated. His jumpsuit tops and trousers had been shredded to pieces and liberal amounts of ink sprayed over the rest of his t-shirts, which left him the trousers and t-shirt he was wearing._

"_You must really dislike your sensei to want to play a joke like that on him." _

_They avoided his eyes and refused to answer. _

_Unfortunately for the two Genin, Kankuro picked that particular moment to pay a visit to Naruto's temporary residence. His eyes widened when he saw the state of the room and when he recognised the two ninjas who were stuck in the seal._

"_You!"_

_The two Genins' jaws dropped open. "Kankuro-sensei!"_

"_Kankuro-sensei? Kankuro is your Jounin leader?" Naruto saw the look on Kankuro's face and almost felt sorry for the two Genins. Almost._

_Flashback end_

...and ended with a shopping trip."

_Flashback_

_Since becoming the Kazagake, Gaara had learnt an awful lot more about human nature than he had thought possible. There was, however, one aspect of which he did not understand, did not want to understand and therefore never would understand. And that was a girl's obsession with shopping. And when Gaara thought girl, the person who he really meant was his sister, Temari, who always seemed to complain that she never had enough time to do it. Gaara simply could not see the point of it. It was, as far as he was concerned, a completely waste of time. So when he found out about the disaster concerning Uzumaki's wardrobe, he decided that it would be a good opportunity to give Temari an excuse to go and buy Naruto a new wardrobe._

_Which was why, several hours later, a thoroughly annoyed looking Naruto carrying at least 5 shopping bags was dragged into the Kazagake's office by an enthusiastic Temari. Gaara nodded in silent approval at Naruto's new outfit. The black trousers and tight t-shirt showed off his toned muscles in a much better than his former outfit, and the flowing, orange red jacket gave him a slightly dangerous air. _

_Gaara was pleased that his sister appeared to have had a good time at least. And he remained pleased until he saw the bill._

_Flashback end_

Sakura shook her head. "Only you could pull something like that off, Naruto."

Naruto scratched the back of his head and laughed. They walked towards the Hokage's tower together, their laughter mixing in with the sounds of the streets.

Naruto smiled to himself. _It's really good to be home._


	2. Chapter 2

Hi everyone! Firstly, huge apologies. I have no excuse as to why this took so long. I just kinda kept getting distracted. Oh well.

Please note - if i owned Naruto, I wouldn't be writing fan fiction for it!

Please tell me what you think, especially if you spot any glaring errors in either of my chapters. This is my first effort at writing fan fiction, so I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Naruto's guess had been right. There was a queue outside the Hokage's office. Naruto leant against the wall as he waited, tinkering with the design of the seal which, in theory, would allow the user to remain under the influence of an illusion even if they were unconscious. The problem was that currently, the chakra had a rather nasty habit of leaking out of the seal when it wasn't supposed to. Naruto's main chakra nature was wind, and the result of this was that the scroll would occasionally explode in a violent gust of wind which tore apart most things within a one meter radius. Naruto had patented a series of very dangerous explosive bombs on the results, slightly modifying the seal design. His wind detonators were capable of a similar effect as his Rasengan Shuriken, albeit on a considerably smaller scale. But he still had not quite achieved his original aim.

Naruto was currently on his tenth attempt at perfecting it and everything he tried seemed to make little difference. As his mind continually ran into mental brick walls, the inevitable happened. He got distracted and for some reason his mind wandered to Tsunade and her assistant, Shizune. Shizune was invaluble to Tsunade, constantly supporting her and organising her paperwork. Naruto privately suspected that one of the few reasons Tsunade had not gotten around to giving several of the council members a good beating was because Shizune was there to head her off.

Assisting... Supporting... Organising...

Something clicked inside Naruto's brain and his brain started to whirl, calculating and refining, analysing symbols and discarding hazardous ones. It was this ability, to mentally be able to cross reference seals and come up with combinations which actually worked; which had caused Naruto's reputation as a Seal Master to soar.

The chuunin just ahead of Naruto was about to start up a conversation but stopped when he saw the look in his eyes. It was that look, and the thought process behind it which had gained Naruto the reputation as the best current Seal Master of Konoha.

Naruto grinned. "Bingo."

The idea, once he thought of it, was ridiculously obvious. Instead of continually remodelling one seal Naruto had just mentally designed a second seal which would act as a container for the leaking chakra and would redirect it back into the first seal. A closed loop, until the user deactivated the whole thing. Naruto began to write out the formation in the shorthand he used to record all his ideas until he could write the seal out properly later in his apartment. It never hurt to be careful with seals.

**So you've finally done it, then?**

Naruto snorted mentally. _Don't give me that, I doubt you could have done it. You don't even have opposable digits._

Kitsune gave a disgruntled humph. **I could so to do it. I just prefer to watch you struggle.**

_Yeah, and who was who suggested the design that time we took out half of training ground 64?_

**That was ****not**** my fault. Besides, the design worked fine. And how was I supposed to know that Snake and Eagle kanjis had to be drawn simultaneously?**

_Well, let's see._ Naruto thought sarcastically. _Aside from the fact that it was YOUR design in first place, you have several more millennia worth of experience on me!_

**I assumed you knew! You never said anything to the contrary!**

_Because I didn't know!_

"Naruto- Tsunade-sama's ready to see you."

Naruto's head snapped around. Shizune smiled at him from the door of the office.

"Err… yeah. Coming!"

Naruto waltzed into the Gondaime's office, trying not to snicker at the mountains of paperwork which seemed to be the bane of every Kage's life.

"Hey Tsunade-baba!"

"Naruto!" the fifth Hokage tried and failed to look annoyed at Naruto's use of her nickname. "I thought I told you not to call me that!"

Naruto smirked. "But it's a term of affection."

Tsunade snorted. "Not when you use it."

Naruto chuckled and put his written report on her desk. Tsuande took a proper look at her ambassador and, if she was honest, favourite ninja in Konoha. "You look good, Naruto. Sunshine suites you."

For some reason Naruto went bright red. Laughing sheepishly he waved and headed out of the office. Tsunade waited until he was sure that he had left the tower. Then she spoke.

"You know what to do."

Two ANBU members materialised from the wall and vanished in a puff of smoke.

Naruto jumped over the rooftops of Konoha with the intention of heading back to his apartement. Naruto allowed his hearing to focus on the crowd three stories below, able to distinguish the individual voices and conversations which to an ordinary person would be no more than a low murmur. Super human senses and strength were two definite advantages to half fusing with the Kyuubi. It also annoyed the hell out of Sasuke, who had yet to sneak up on Naruto unawares. Then Naruto's nose caught an odour which didn't belong to the streets. He inhaled deeper and identified it.

"Katana oil."

**ANBU then?**

_Must be. _Analysing the slightly more subtle odours he recognised the scents as the same ones he had found in Tsunade's office. Naruto also knew one of the scents from somewhere else. It annoyed him and he puzzled over it as his feet automatically took him past his apartment and towards his favoured training spot. Then he remembered.

_Ibiki? Head of Interrogation?_

There was a long pause. **You're right.**

_I know I'm right. I don't know the other one, but…_ _no, wait, snakes? Anko. _An idea formed in Naruto's mind and an utterly mischievous grin spread across his face. _I don't know why they're following us but what do you say we give them a little surprise?_

**As in a trap type of surprise?**

_Those are my favourite type! Unless I'm the one heading into the trap, in which case I'd rather it wasn't a surprise._

Kitsune snorted. **You don't get caught in traps that often for that to be a problem. Genjutsus no longer work on us and you can dismantle just about any other physical trap thanks to the scroll you wrote.**

It was Naruto's turn to snort. _I presume you're talking about the scroll which took me 7 attempts to get right and nearly killed me whilst I was making it? Twice?_

**Yes, I'm talking about that scroll. It works, doesn't it? And what are you going to use on our followers?**

_Let's see…_

You really had to feel sorry for Ibiki and Anko.


	3. Chapter 3

Hi, I'm back! This is a much quicker update than I usually do, so the next one is probably going to be awhile... but I do intend to finish this!

Still don't own it, sadly.

Have fun!

* * *

Their target launched itself off the last rooftop and shot over the top of Konoha's reinforced wall. He used his chakra as a brake and skidded down the other side, before pushing off and jumping through the forest at a leisurely pace. The ANBU members followed with much more subtleness, slightly more confident that they hadn't been detected. A slight lightening in the forest shadows up ahead gave them a clue to their destination. Suddenly their target put on a sudden spurt of speed and shot through a clearing before disappearing into the thick undergrowth on the side. Alarmed at the possibility of losing their quarry, they jumped into the clearing, temporarily abandoning their usual caution. The moment their feet touched the ground they realised their mistake. A binding rose out of the ground and surrounded the two ANBU members.

"Damn." Anko muttered.

There was a swirl of leaves and their supposed target appeared, a smirk plastered across his face.

"Now, what are we going to do with you?" he asked.

A wicked glint appeared in his eyes and the taller of the two ANBU members groaned mentally. Ibiki had seen that glint in his blond haired ninja's eyes before, usually just before one of his traps activated with spectacular results.

Naruto took out the same scroll he had used in Sunagakure and unrolled it, bit his thumb and smeared his blood on the ink.

_I wonder how Tsunade will react to my unscheduled arrival?_

**If she's busy or sleeping you'd better be ready to duck whatever she decides to throw at you.**

Naruto put the scroll on the dome of the binding and performed the required hand seals. Naruto and the trap with the unfortunate ANBU members inside it vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Tsunade had finally finished the last of her paperwork had managed to get Shizune out of her office and was contemplating the possibility of sneaking out of her office for the rest of the day.

That was when a wind spiralled into being in the space in front of her desk, and a rather smug looking Naruto materialised with two ANBU members stuck in a chakra dome. Even with their masks on they exuded an air of extreme annoyance and discomfort. Tsunade leant back in her chair and glared at the two ANBU members before turning her gaze to Naruto, who waited, a kunai materialising in his left hand which he promptly began to twirl around his left finger.

Mentally Tsunade groaned. _This was not supposed to happen._

"Really, I expected better of you. Naruto only left my office half an hour ago and you lost already?"

"Lost?" Naruto enquired. "We never even started fighting. I set a trap and they walked right into it."

Tsunade groaned out loud this time. "I imagine you're wanting an explanation then, Naruto."

_Is he ready for this? _She wondered. "Naruto, I had you followed today to.."

She got no further as Naruto cracked up laughing, doubling over and clutching his chest.

Tsunade, Anko and Ibiki stared at him.

Then Tsunade snapped. "Baka! Were you listening to anything I just said."

"Sorry." Naruto gasped, his shoulders still shaking with half smothered sniggers. "Just.. hahaha… was I the… only one… you had… followed today?" he asked, finally getting himself under control.

"What do you…"

_Boom._

Tsunade's office door was flung open and an extremely pissed off Uchia Sasuke stalked into the room carrying two unconscious ANBU members over his shoulder. He dumped them unceremoniously on the floor and glared at the Hokage.

Tsunade looked from the irate Uchia to the still sniggering jinchuuriki and mentally bid her chance of a free afternoon farewell. The growing silence was broken when Sasuke finally spoke, completely ignoring the Hokage.

"Nice gear, Naruto."

Naruto snorted. "I don't see you for a month and that's the first thing you say to me? You're worse than Sakura." Naruto paused and a frown crossed his face. "Actually, scratch that. No-one could be worse than Sakura."

"Except you, loser.

"What about you, bastard?"

"You just said I couldn't be as bad as…"

"SHUT UP!"

Both Sasuke and Naruto jumped and returned their attention to Tsunade, who was glaring blue murder at the pair of them.

"Now, if you don't mind, I was going to explain…" she trailed off. Naruto and Sasuke watched as the Sannin appeared to change her mind about something. They exchanged slightly worried glances as Tsunade threw her hands up in despair.

"What the hell. Naruto, release you trap. Once he's done that, Ibiki, Anko, get your team members to the hospital. Tell them a training exercise got a bit out of hand or something."

Naruto complied and the pentangle vanished. Ibiki and Anko each picked up a team member and vanished in a puff of smoke.

Tsunade considered the shinobi in front of her. Sasuke appeared to have relaxed his usual frosty demeanour slightly, a feat which only the blond haired jinchuuriki could accomplish.

As for the blond in question, he had his favourite kunai out and was once again twirling it around his finger.

Tsunade started to speak. "I ordered for you to be followed today to fully test your capabilities." A slow smile spread across the Gondaime's face. "As of today, the two of you are members of the ANBU. Sasuke, head of ANBU is aware of your possible promotion and your arrival at the headquarters will confirm this. Naruto- you're to be kept a secret."

There was a brief moment of silence and then they both started to talk at the same time.

"When-"

"Why-"

They glanced at each other, seemed to come to a silent agreement and Sasuke spoke up. "Why is Naruto being kept a secret? He has every right to become an ANBU, even more than I do."

Tsunade grinned. "I want to have a secret weapon up my sleeve, one whom the council doesn't know personally, but knows of. And besides, I imagine that the two of you are going to build up your reputation soon enough, and it wouldn't do for your identity to be discovered.

Naruto shrugged. "Fair enough."

Rummaging around in her desk, Tsunade pulled out a message scroll and handed it to Sasuke. "Follow the instructions on the scroll and head down to ANBU Headquarters. Once you get there, give the message inside to Hyuuga Neji, they should be ready for you. You'll need a full set of equipment, minus the katana, a tattoo, and talk to him about your mask. Your code name will be Shadow."

Sasuke nodded, mouthed _later! _at Naruto and vanished in a puff of smoke.

Naruto snorted. "Show off."

Privately Tsunade agreed, but was just happy that she had come out of her encounter with an angry Sasuke without a full blown fight.

Naruto finally stopped twirling the kunai around his finger and resealed it into his left wrist. As soon as any potential weapons were out of immediate reach, Tsunade grabbed Naruto's right arm, forced him into a chair, pulled his new arm guard up off his arm and began to ink a design onto his forearm, just below the elbow.

"Hey, what are you-"

"Hold still – I'm doing your ANBU tattoo."

"Well, you could have warned – OW!"

"Oh stop being such a baby, Na-"

"WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF SOMEONE GRABBED YOU AND THEN STARTED STICKING NEEDLES IN YOU?!"

Ten minutes, considerable amounts of yelling, arguing and swearing later, Tsunade performed a final seal and the design inked onto Naruto's skin flashed once and bonded permanently onto his arm. She pulled his arm guard back down and returned to her desk, cheerfully ignoring the glares the blond haired ninja kept shooting her way.

She withdrew a scroll from her pocket and threw it to Naruto, who caught it with a practiced ease. "All your ANBU equipment is sealed in there. If anything is the wrong size, your first mission will be to sneak into the headquarters and replace the relevant kit with something that does fit."

"You'd better have not got the wrong size on purpose."

She ignored him and carried on. "Your first mission will be a solo, leaving in three days, so don't wear yourself out training, understand? Tsunade hesitated. "It's an assassination, so be careful, ok. Oh and your code name is your decision. Please don't come up with anything stupid."

"When is anything I do ever stupid?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

"…"

"I thought not. Now get going."

Naruto smiled, waved and headed out the window over the rooftops.

Tsunade smiled to herself and started sorting out the papers all over the floor.

"Good luck Naruto. I think you're going to need it."


End file.
